Lady of the Lost
by Dr. Dragon
Summary: To stop her mother from massacring the people... again, Mal ends up overseeing the administration of the Island of the Lost one day. No one is more surprised than her that people apparently want her to keep bossing them around and soon, she finds her life and that of her friends changed as they try to keep their people from destruction at the hands of Auradon or their parents.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - Mal

It was agreed by all that lived upon it that the Isle of the Lost was a hellish slum. They were overpopulated, underfed and completely trapped. But before we get into that, a small amount of history.

* * *

 _Extracts taken from 'The Founding of Auradon'_

 _Twenty years ago the many kingdoms of the land were united by King Adam upon his transformation back from the Beast and his new bride Queen Belle. They united the various kingdoms into the new U.S.A 'United States of Auradon' which soon became known simply as Auradon. Of course, no unification is seamless; they needed to give many concessions to the various rulers, mostly along the lines of 'help us with our villain problem and we'll swear fealty to you'. Now obviously, the first thing to consider what to do before enacting such a campaign was what to do with the villains once they began._

 _Some dignitaries wanted to kill them_ (Most notably King Adam) _, others wanted to rehabilitate them_ (Such as Queen Belle) _. In the end, it was decided by a new council led by both the King and Queen and representatives from all the prospective new lands that the best thing to do was put them somewhere._ (Anywhere away from so-called 'decent people') _. The problem now was, where to put them, where could they possibly go. Most of them were to powerful to be held by any prison and no one wanted to risk holding hundreds of villains within their borders. Finally a solution was put forth by Peter Pan, ever since he and the other lost boys had returned from Neverland nearly a decade ago, the Island had lost its source of magic, the wonder and belief of children. Without this important component, the Island, and the Pirates trapped upon it had returned to their original place, no longer outside of time and reality. With it's existence in our world restored, it was decided that it should also revert to it's original name from whence Pan and his friends took there name: The Isle of the Lost._ (And this was in no way due to the fact that Neverland sounded a great deal more cheerful and more likely to make its inhabitants feel happy.)

 _And so they had decided upon the fate of the Villains, and decided where such a fate was to be enacted. Now all that remained was to capture said Villains. King Adam quickly sent the land's foremost magic experts into building wards over the Island to ensure it could hold the Villains. As an afterthought_ (Read: After it was pointed out to him by Queen Belle) _, he also sent stonemasons to ensure that some_ (shabby) _buildings were constructed upon the Island so that it's new Inhabitants wouldn't die from exposure to the elements. Then the true planning began. Which Villain to go for first, obviously every land wanted its own problem taken care at once. In the end, it was decided (after a lot of grumbling) that the most social and least dangerous of the Villains should be neutralised first, they couldn't risk someone uniting their enemies and they doubted that they could hold the most powerful of them for long enough to finish the prison._

 _The first three taken care of were Cruella De Vil, The Evil Queen and Gaston. They were a danger to the coalition due to the power and influence they held 'From Wealth, social standing and Charisma respectively'. Given that none of them had any overt magical talents, it was deemed safe to keep them in cells until the Island was ready for them. Their next challenge was those ingrained within various groups, whilst the clergy may have officially excommunicated Judge Frollo, there were still many within it and the French Guard who were loyal to him; similarly Shan Yu had the entire Hun army at his beck and call. They took careful planning to capture but eventually both were within custody. By this point the Isle of the Lost was nearly ready, the majority of the wards were ready, only the large Barrier to surround the Island was required. The time had come to secure the waters between Auradon and the Isle so that the prisoners may be moved in peace. To this end, they bargained with Triton lord of the seas, in exchange for his aid in putting up the barrier and capturing the notorious pirate Hook, they would imprison the sea with Ursula upon the Island with the other Villains. By the time this was done, they had rounded up most of those that had so far eluded them. Sultan Aladdin greatly enjoyed handing over a small black lamp which held the genie Jafar._

 _Now, Eighteen months after the unification of Auradon, only one villain remained free, the most powerful and deadly of them all, one whose power was superseded only by her malice_ (and her arrogance) _, the Mistress of Magic, the Draconic Fae Queen Maleficent herself. Maleficent had watched as the villains were rounded up and had not cared 'Less Competition' she thought though none of them were truly anywhere near a match for her, she had watched as an army rose up against her and had not cared. 'These mortal fools shall fall as all who had come against her before had.' When there army reached her castle, they found the doors wide open and Maleficent sitting on a large Iron throne within the main hall. What happened within that castle was not spoken of even in whispers by those that survived_ (What, this was the part I was most excited for) _but survive they did and they emerged significantly fewer with Maleficent pushed before them in chains._

 _And so it came to pass, that our great_ (Ha) _nation of Auradon was founded, it's enemies and all that served them were banished and it was decreed that they and their kin were to never again leave the Island from that day until the last day_ (As if we'd want to go to your country anyway).

 _Extracts taken and summarised by Fairy God Mother_ (Annotations made and laughed at by Mal. B. Faechild aged 10).

* * *

Yup, that's how it happened. Honestly sometimes I think it would have been kinder just to kill our parents. I'm Mal by the way, 13 years old, daughter of Maleficent and current de facto ruler of the Isle of the Lost, due to the fact that my mother can't be bothered to do any of this herself. She delegated it to me about a year ago and, much to everyone's surprise I proved to be naturally gifted at ruling and administrating. But more about that another time. As I was saying, it might have been kinder to have just killed our parents. Whether intentional or not, each of them has lost what they cared about most since being placed here.

Using just the parents of me and my friends as an example. My mother Maleficent lost most of her magic, she used to use magic for everything, keeping things clean, amusing herself whenever she wasn't plotting, and she even created most of her food using magic. It was a hard blow having all of that put out of her reach. Jafar was thrown in whilst in genie from. I don't know how much you actually know about genies but they're pretty much omniscient. They see everything, they know pretty much everything that has ever happened, billions of years of history are crammed into their heads. Upon being trapped upon the Island, the wish turning him into a genie broke and he returned to mortal from, but all that knowledge was still in his head. No mortal mind can comprehend all that knowledge, the strain of trying broke his mind. It's a testament to how cunning, how frighteningly intelligent he must have once been that he's still pretty much functioning. He can't keep focused, and his prized possession, his intellect has been taken from him. His son Jay, a friend of mine, spends a lot of his free time searching for a genie to cure him. He hasn't succeeded yet. Cruella, mother of Carlos who is another of my friends, had her wardrobe taken from her. I know it sounds ridiculous, but Cruella had spent most of her life and several fortunes of cash amassing those clothes and given she wasn't all there to begin with…. The Evil Queen Grimhilde, whose daughter Evie is pretty much my best friend lost her collection of mirrors, all of which were priceless magical artefacts but what she mourns the most is her family's standing. Her bloodline, which had been royalty for generations and nobility for centuries before that had been stripped of all lands and standing.

So there you have it, we live on a cramped island, we have no way of growing our own food and our leaders are all on the wrong side on unbalanced. Or at least, they were. About a year ago, mother was busy with one of her escape attempts, attempt number five hundred and sixty two I think it was and she didn't want to be disturbed. At this point we were informed by one of the guards that there was a long line of people who needed her input in various matters of state. The last time mother had been interrupted whilst plotting, she had used all those responsible in a blood sacrifice to try and weaken the wards. It failed, they died and the rioting and looting by the general populace was really annoying. Hoping to forestall several weeks of chaos at best, I told my mother that she really couldn't kill them all again. She responded by telling me 'If you care about them that much, you go deal with them'. I gave it my best shot, and somehow ended up doing quite well. Well enough that the next day, more people had shown up, actually asking for MY input. Within a few weeks, mother decided that I would keep doing this. She was getting a lot more plotting in now that she wasn't indiscriminately culling the locals, the rest of her council were happy that she was no longer so irritable and the people were happy that their problems were being solved and that they were still breathing. I seemed to be the only one worried that the previous administration was so unsatisfactory that being bossed around by a twelve year old was the preferable option.

Of course I wasn't all on my own, Evie was spreading stories about how fair and generous I was being to my new subjects so I eventually just made her my PR manager. About six months later, someone apparently tried to kill me. They didn't get anywhere near me, they apparently stumbled upon Mother whilst she was looking for someone to test her new potion on that would allow her to pass through the barrier. Either way, I asked Carlos, the most well liked of my friends to ask around amongst the orphans and the kids to find out any information about what happened and any further attempts. I put some money aside for him to pay them with and once word had spread that ratting out those that wanted to hurt the people seeing them clothed, fed and sheltered resulted in money once said plotting was confirmed, everyone was eager to join in. Carlos had an entire spy network of urchins throughout the Island within two months. Inevitably this led to another problem, once word got out that kids had somehow got a hold of money, people started trying to take it from them. After a lot of complaints, I finally asked Jay to gather some of the tougher people he trusted to see to it that they stopped robbing the kids. Things snowballed and eventually, Jay had found himself in charge of the Islands peace keepers.

I won't pretend things were perfect because they weren't but I was ensuring the food was being rationed appropriately, Evie was doing wonders ensuring there wouldn't be any huge riots or rebellions, Carlos had eyes and ears everywhere on the Island keeping track of everything important and a lot of not so important things and Jay was ensuring our people didn't kill each other.

Then came an event I really wish I had been told about before the day arrived. The Queen's annual Inspection of the Island. Sometimes I wish I'd just let mom kill those people.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Belle

'Something has changed'. This one indisputable fact stuck out in the front of my mind as the car took us through the Isle of the Lost. The people seemed calmer, more content. There were small children laughing and running through the streets where before they had been begging. I had always pitied those born on the Isle, they weren't responsible for their parents' actions and yet they suffered for it all the same. Now though, now they seemed… almost happy. It would be interesting to find out what had happened in the last year. I grimaced, Maleficent always made these meetings far more annoying than they had to be, it was only the anti-magic barrier and the presence of armed guards that stopped her from physically attacking me sometimes.

"Are you alright your majesty?" asked fairy god mother. Bless her soul, she had school starting up in just a few weeks and yet every year, she came to a place where her magic was useless just to support me.

"I am fine" I replied giving her a smile. I gestured out the window "things here appear to be going well". Fairy god mother smiled back at me before looking out her own window at the populace.

"They do appear to be more cheerful this year" she said smiling slightly and I felt a pang of guilt. For someone so kind hearted as Fairy god mother, seeing these people's suffering year after year must have been excruciating. "We can only hope that Maleficent has also mellowed recently".

I sighed. "I hope so" I said. The rest of the journey passed in silence.

* * *

We arrived at our destination about half an hour after entering the barrier. A large stone building behind its own set of wards, wards stopping those who lived on the Island from finding it, wards which kept the place clean and tidy, and preservation wards to prevent the food and drink from rotting or souring. It was mockingly referred to as 'The Embassy' by the guards that often accompanied me. Always the first stop on the inspection, this was where we would stay the night. Tomorrow we would go to the meeting house, a small building mid way between the tower and our accommodations. It was there that we would meet Maleficent and her council. Getting anything done usually took all day, then we returned here for another nights rest before going back home on the third day. I was supposed to inspect certain features of the Island as well but the villains spent a lot of effort occupying my time to keep me away from seeing anything.

After getting everything into the house, I dismissed my guards for the evening and they went to find an inn and as much as I disapproved of them getting drunk, I couldn't deny the information they often brought back was useful. I fixed a small meal for myself and Fairy god mother, we spent the meal making small talk and then I retired to the library down the hall from my chambers. The first night here never failed to make me nostalgic, remembering my life before I met Adam, back when I was just a young peasant girl. Whilst I loved Adam and our son Ben, I did sometimes miss those days when it was just me and my father. Moving along the bookshelves I found one of my old favourites. 'The Knights of Camelot' was a book part history, part fantasy about one of the first great kingdoms. Whilst Camelot fell long ago, its heroes and its villains will likely be remembered forever.

The great sorcerer Merlin who was said to have the soul of a great dragon, the noble king Arthur who brought peace and prosperity to all he met, the brave and gallant knights who dedicated their lives to fighting the forces of darkness, the treasonous Mordred the Black and his advisor, the dark Fae Morganna. It was the latter I had been most interested in when I first found the book within the Royal library. It was very easy to draw comparisons between her and another evil Fae that was terrorising the lands. Whether the character had been altered by the author to reflect Maleficent or whether there were other reasons behind the similarities was unknown and likely would never be known for sure. Still there had always been rumours spread by the fire on cold winter nights speculating on the parentage of the dreaded villain.

Returning the book to its shelf, I retuned to my chambers for the night. As was always the case on the Isle, so close to my former foes, my rest was filled with dark dreams, cackling and green fire that sought to burn your very soul. I woke early the next morning, as tired as I had been before my rest.

* * *

My guards returned shortly after breakfast, red eyed and grumbling. They had very strange stories to tell, the people in the tavern were eager to tell stories of their new good fortune, but all clammed up, all refused to say a word when questioned how such a thing came to be. It was a worrisome thing as my mind immediately jumped to some of the worst conclusions. Maleficent could use magic again, people had found a way to leave the Island, the villains were enslaving their citizens. I forced my racing mind to relax, whatever was going on, I would find out one way or another later that day. Once Fairy god mother was present, we left through the gates.

Our way was mostly impeded, it was too early for the majority of the Islands inhabitants to be out and those that were already about had likely been working for hours already. There were only two instances really worthy of any note. The first was when one of my guards realised we were being followed. He nudged me gently and then gestured at the top of a building where a little kid sat watching us. Upon realising e had been spotted, he immediately fled jumping from roof to roof with far more skill than someone his age should have. The second was when we were passing through a market a few blocks away from the meeting place; a teenager had cornered a small group of kids and was making threatening gestures at them. Before I was able to send my guards to intervene, some more teenagers showed up though the oldest looked to be about twenty. To my surprise one of the youngest of them was the one who spoke

"Stand down Anton" said the kid, he was fairly tall with quite a bit of muscle on him. He had long dark hair and was wearing a hat. The bully spun around immediately and I had to bite back a gasp, the boy had the face of my old enemy Gaston.

"This is none of your business Jay" the kid, Anton spat but he was clearly nervous as he had moved subconsciously into a defensive position.

"You made it my business when you broke _her_ rules" Jay replied grinning stepping forward out of his group to approach Anton, who was this 'her' they were talking about. I would normally assume its Maleficent but she has never been one to enforce rules or to inspire any loyalty. Jay was still grinning. "You've got one chance, leave now and we forget this ever happened, or you can try your luck against us" here he gestured at his little gang "and assuming you beat us, eventually you'll have to answer to _her_ ". At this Anton raised his hands in surrender and began backing away from Jay, always keeping him in sight, upon rounding the corner the sounds of hasty footsteps could be heard as he ran away.

"Thanks mister Jay" the five kids who had been cornered chorused before they too fled, in the opposite direction to Anton. Jay motioned with his hand and his men and he left down another street, never even glancing at my procession.

"Well that was interesting" Fairy god mother chirped looking after them. "I wonder who they are"

"Guards" said one of my guards. As we turned to look at him, he shifted "They all had the same emblem somewhere on their clothes. Whilst they might be a gang, it's unlike a gang to defend people without getting something in return, or for them to just let people go like that." His piece said, he fell silent, getting more and more uncomfortable by Fairy god mother's staring".

* * *

Soon after this, we finally reached the meeting house. The building was set up in such a way that there were two entrances, one facing towards the central tower which was Maleficent's seat of power, another towards the accommodation that I tended to stay in. we entered through the doors, went up the stairs to the room and entered, shocked to find someone already sitting at the other end of the large table, a table which I idly noticed was now covered with a map of the island, with the boundaries of the wards included. The problem was the person sitting at the other end of the table wasn't Maleficent; it was a young girl with purple hair bent over some papers, writing things down.

We stood there in shock for a few minutes as the girl continued working. Finally she bunched the papers into various piles and put them in different coloured folders. She then started talking. "The green one goes to Jay, the red to Carlos, give the gold one to Evie and the rest is to be put into the records room until further notice". Confused I opened my mouth to speak but a young man stepped out of the shadows behind the girl, where we in our surprise hadn't noticed him. My guards' hands flew to their sword hilts at the unexpected, clearly armed man. He picked the various folders up, inclined his head to her and left. At this point, the girl turned towards us causing Fairy god mother to gasp. "Thank you for waiting, please have a seat".

After sitting in the seat directly across from her, I finally asked the question that I'm sure all of us were thinking. "Who are you?"

The girl blinked before snorting slightly and muttering something under her breath. Finally she said "I'm Mal; can I assume that my _dear_ mother failed to inform you that I would be here?"

Fairy god mother gulped before speaking up "Your Mother? Do you mean Maleficent?" this question caused my guards to mutter uneasily whilst my head snapped to face my friend "You look very much like her" she finally trailed off. I turned back to look at Mal who was looking at us impassively.

"That would be her" she finally said "but that's not really important right now. Let's get down to business."


End file.
